Vigilante
by NeonShoeStrings
Summary: Austin Moon was a mild-mannered high school student living in NoWheresville USA. That was until legends from the past became a part of his future. Chosen to fulfill a destiny that was failed so many years ago by someone else, Austin must save the lives of those he cares about in order to keep himself alive. Auslly. Superhero AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Vigilante**

Chapter One

The city was quiet, apart from the buzz of electrically charged fencing that surrounded the outskirts of the aforementioned city.

That city, which remains currently nameless and has for the past fifty years (really no one is keeping an accurate record) was once a great place of idle chit-chat, but had been long gone from anyone's mind. Most don't know the epic saga that was the history of this town simply because they weren't around then, but those who were keep quiet about it. A giant secret from the rest of mankind.

This city was Gotham City.

Now a days, though, not much happens here. With a low population of a mere 400+ citizens and a seemingly normal existence, the town isn't even recognized beyond its borders.

Seemingly normal town with seemingly normal residents.

…

Jenny Miller sat completely unaware in her office in the First National Bank on 33rd Street. She taps away on her phone, taking her time in closing up the bank. A strange noise behind her her echoes throughout the building.

She hums in response, swiveling in her chair to look behind her. She sees nothing.

Jenny shakes her head and further dismisses the noise to nothing more than her imagination acting out.

Maybe if something ever happened in this damn town she'd have reason to worry, but nothing ever did. Therefore worry was no concern.

Jenny gets up out of her chair, grabbing her purse, keys, and phone and walking toward the door. Her two-inch heels clack against the hardwood floor. She can't wait to take them off.

She pushes on the door lazily. Only the door doesn't budge. It's not locked so why isn't it opening? She pushes on it some more, leaning her whole body up against it. Nothing.

Jenny slams her fist on the door, groaning in frustration.

The unmistakeable sound of footsteps resonates in the background and before she even has time to turn around, a gun is pressed against her temple.

She doesn't even have time to scream.

…

Seven twenty-three. He's late. Again. Austin quickly rushes up to his locker and puts in his combination. He drinks some more of his coffee before deciding it's cold anyway and throws it away. He grabs his Pre- Calculus book. That was his first period class right? Dammit he can't even remember. These damned headaches he's been having lately have really been taking a toll on his memory.

"Mr. Moon," a stern male voice speaks from behind the blond.

Shit. Anyone who refers to him as "Mr. Moon" with that tone of voice can't be anyone he's in the mood to deal with right now.

Austin gracefully spins around on the heel of his foot and shoots the vice principal a half-hearted smile. "Yes, sir?"

"Mr. Moon please come with me." That's all he says before he grabs the boy by his arm and drags him down the corridor leading to his office.

Austin gasps in surprise by this action. A million different thoughts running through his mind as to why the vice-principal wants to see him. He's not a trouble maker, actually he's a pretty average student who does his best to fly under the radar, yet somehow trouble always seems to find its way into his life.

Vice Principal Mathers let's go of him and opens the door to his office, gesturing for Austin to go in first. He obliges and, because this isn't his first time at the rodeo, he plops his butt down in one of the rather uncomfortable blue chairs in front of the big, mahogany desk.

It's only then that he notices the other presence in the room, who had already taken a seat in the matching chair next to him.

Brunette/blond curls cascading down her shoulder in elegant waves. Chocolate brown eyes that are not only big and bright but also warm and inviting and even a little mischievous. Gorgeous girl with full lips, cute button nose, and exceedingly long eyelashes.

"You're staring," she whispers to him. Her lips quirk up into a half-smile and she looks rather smug with herself.

"Yeah," he smirks, "you have something on your face."

"What?" Every shred of confidence is gone as she frantically fishes through her bag to find a mirror.

"Just kidding," he says cheekily, coupled with a hearty laugh. This only earns him a scowl from the brunette beauty.

"I see you two have gotten acquainted." Both teens snap their attention to the man in front of them who, until moments ago, they'd forgotten was in the same room. He looks rather unamused. Maybe it's the way he clearly didn't put any effort into his appearance before showing up for work. Or maybe it was the iconic "I won't put up with any of your bullshit before I've had my morning cup" coffee mug that he was drinking out of. Whatever it was, it was giving off really bad vibes. It was Thursday morning, but this guy was acting as if it was Monday.

"Mr. Moon, this is Miss Allyson Dawson, the newest student here at-"

"It's just Ally," the brunette interjects, trying to hide the annoyed undertone playing at her words.

"Excuse me?"

"My names not Allyson."

"But it says right here; Allyson Victoria Dawson. It's on the papers for Christ's sake!" Vice- Principal Mathers shouts. It appears that this is deeply upsetting him.

"That's because my step-mom doesn't know what the hell my name is. For the first two months she was dating my father she called me Ellie!"

Austin just sits back in his chair, entertained by their back and forth. He's fighting to keep the smile off his face.

"Well, then what is your name?" He searches his desk for a pen, and when he finds one he does that weird thing that adults do where they lick the pen before writing with it. Ally squirms in her seat, disgusted by this action. She even goes as far as to let a small groan escape her.

Austin pretends to find it ridiculous rather than sexy, even though that sound is, now, basically burned into his memory.

"My name is just Ally. It's not short for Allyson or Alice or Alexandria or anything. It's simply just Ally." Her chest puffs out, as if this fact is something to be proud of. Maybe she just enjoys knowing things that other people don't.

"Okay then, Just Ally-" he gives her a pointed look over the tips of his glasses. "As I was saying before; This is Ally Dawson. She's a new student that will be joining us this year." Ally turns to offer Austin a friendly smile. He returns it with his version of a smile. "This is Mr. Austin Moon. He will be your escort to class. Seeing as how you two seem to have identical schedules. This way Ally won't have any problems getting to her classes, and you sir," he points a finger at Austin," might actually make it to your classes on time."

Ally giggles at this. Austin just shrugs and says, "Don't hold your breath on that one, sir."

Vice-Principal Mathers rolls his eyes. He hands the two teens slips of paper that excuse them for being late to their first period class, which is his way of informing them that they can leave so he can continue to scowl and hate his job in private.

"Do you make it a point to argue with every single person you encounter?" He asks after a beat of silence. They walk in step with each other down the hallway. She seems to be leading the way even though she has no clue where she's going.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She smiles at him over her shoulder.

"I bet your middle name isn't even Victoria," he teases.

Ally snorts in reply.

…

Austin unlocks the front door to his house, throwing his book bag on the floor when he does and stepping inside. "I'm home!" His voice rings throughout the empty house. Typical. His parents both worked in a huge law firm that was roughly forty minutes outside of the city, so it wasn't unusual to come home to an empty house. He sighs and shakes his head.

Austin trudges through the living room and into the kitchen. Setting on the kitchen table is a pan of lasagna with a bright yellow sticky note stuck to it. His mom's bubbly script is sprawled across the note.

_Hope you had a great day at school, sweetie :) Here's a lasagna for you. Your dad and I will be working late tonight. We'll see you tomorrow morning! Love you!_

Austin picks up the note, crumples it in his fist and disposes of it in the trash can. He takes his jacket off, placing it on the back of the chair, and puts the lasagna back in the fridge. Oddly enough, he doesn't feel like eating tonight.

His head pulsates with pain. His headache is back and it's angrier than it was before.

"Gah!" Austin groans in displeasure. His hand flies up to his forehead, fingers rub against his temple in an attempt to reduce some of the pain. It prove ineffective and soon he's stumbling through the hallways of the house in search of the bathroom.

The blond hastily opens the mirrored door of the medicine cabinet. He finally finds the bottle of Aspirin and takes two- actually three, for good measure- and then stalks up the stairs leading to his bedroom.

He groans once again and flops down onto his bed. What was up with all these headaches he'd been having lately? He'd had less headaches in the first sixteen years of his life than he'd had this past month. But at least the pills were working, even if slowly. He could feel his the dull pain aching across his forehead begin to diminish.

He's in need of a distraction. Austin pulls his phone out of his back pocket along with a slip of paper that has a certain brunette's phone number on it.

_What's up, Victoria? _

Moments later a reply pops up on his screen.

_That's no fair! I don't know your middle name. _

Austin smirks. _'Yeah, and if I have it my way you never will,' _thinks Austin _Monica_ Moon.

…

"Allyson," Melissa's bitterly-sweet voice sing-songs from the front door. Ally, who is at the kitchen table doing homework, resists the urge to bang her head on the mahogany table.

"What do you want Mel?" Ally swings her legs and hops off the barstool chair. Her mismatched sock-feet pad across the tile floor as she goes to meet her step-mother at the door.

"Ally-cat," she playfully swats the teenager's arm and giggles, "how many time have I told you to call me mom!"

"Yeah, I'm not doing that," she deadpans and folds her arms over her chest. The older woman knits her eyebrows together and frowns. "What did you want?"

"I was just wondering if you'd mind helping me bring the groceries in."

Ally obliges, still parading around in her socks -fuzzy blue ones with little ducklings on them- and marches over to Melissa's Mini Cooper.

"Can you believe it?" Ally hears her step-mom's annoying voice behind her. "Two days after we move to this crumby little town and there's a bank robbery!"

Ally cranes her neck to glance back at the woman. "What are you talking about?"

Melissa frantically waves a newspaper above her head. "It was all over the paper this morning. Everyone at the store was talking about it. It's like they've never had anything even remotely exciting happen to them before. Not that a bank robbery is exciting."

Ally sets the groceries down on the table and grabs the paper out of Melissa's hand. Right there on the front cover, in bold print, 'FIRST NATIONAL BANK WAS ROBBED: Five Thousand Dollars Stolen, Woman Found Dead.'

"Oh my gosh!" Ally screams in horror, clutching her stomach.

"I know. It's horrible," Melissa pipes up from behind her.

"No, not that!" Ally springs into action, practically flying through the house to get to a toilet, as a sense of strong nausea washes over her all of a sudden.

She instantly falls to her knees, head hovering over the porcelain bowl, but just as soon as it came her intense urge to puke is gone.

"Oh my gawd! Honey, are you okay?!" Melissa scampers into that bathroom after Ally. "Are you gonna throw up?!"

Ally just rolls her eyes.

"Oh my gawd, are you pregnant?!"

Ally pulls herself up off the floor. She pushes her hair out of her face and tucks it behind her ears. "I'm fine, Mel. I just... got a little nauseous there for a second." Ally shakes her head. "I don't know. That was weird."

"Well, maybe you should lie down," Melissa suggests. She puts a hand on Ally's back and helps her out of the bathroom and down the hall. Ally contemplates wether she should push her step-mom away and insist that she doesn't need her help, but she decides against it.

So together they awkwardly stumble throughout the house.

Ally didn't know it, but this was just the beginning of all the strange things to come.

**A/N**

**Happy New Year my lovelies! New Year, New Story. My first Auslly centered one in awhile too. I had this plot idea in my head for awhile after watching The Dark Knight and the inner fangirl in me was like, what if I did an Austin and Ally batman fic. Thus, this was born. The first chapter kind of sucks and might be a little confusing, but it'll be cleared up soon enough I promise.**

**Pardon my nerdiness *blushes* but I love Batman to an extreme degree and I felt as though this fandom needed a Superhero AU (if they didn't already have one) and this idea was just too perfect not to write. **

**Review if you would be so kind to I would really appreciate your feedback :)**

**Alright guys, I'm out! Keep it real! Love y'all!**

**Kthanxbai!**

**Morgan :)**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Just a disclaimer. This chapter may include triggering content. It's nothing too bad, but I thought, for your guys' sake (just in case) that I would add this as a warning. Okay, continue at your own risk. **_

**Vigilante**

Chapter Two

Being the new girl in such a small town was not easy. Ally was learning that quickly. Everyone that had lived here, had lived here for long time and they were all familiar with each other. Everyone knew who everyone else was and if something happened (which nothing usually did) everyone knew about it.

So walking down the hallway at school and trying to engage in friendly conversation among your peers was not an easy thing to do. Ally strode down the halls of her new school, exuding all the confidence and friendliness that she could muster. She wasn't exactly new to being the new girl in town. A few years ago when she lived with just her mom, they had moved several different times. In the coarse of six months she'd gone to ten different schools, but all of people at those schools had been more willing to open up to her than these people were.

She stops at her locker, sighing and leaning her back against the metal door. She sighs, frustrated, and surveys the scene around her. Actually, there weren't that many students in the hallway, only like twenty or so teens that were scattered scarcely throughout the corridor. The cool kids that hung out by the water fountain with their two hundred dollar sunglasses that were all too cool to talk to you. The procrastinating bums who were scrambling to get their homework done at the last minute. All your typical high school stereotypes were there.

But one particular person happens to catch Ally's attention. Almost exactly across the hallway from her, a girl, probably her age with lots of curly black hair that seems to overpower her face, is frantically and constantly looking over her shoulder. She's visibly shaking, curls bouncing as she does, and a look of paranoia flashes through her brown eyes at even the slightest sound when she checks her surroundings. Ally continues to watch her for another four minutes or so, and after about the twelfth time of looking over shoulder, she notices her one-person audience. Ally and the strange girl lock eyes, an intense gaze between the two of them ensues. The girl looks scared and depressed. Her eyes go wide with fear and she looks as if she's almost pleading for Ally to look away. The only thing is that she can't. For whatever reason, Ally has become physically incapable of looking away. The dark haired girl continues to stare back at her, but now she looks angered.

The back of Ally's head contorts in intense pain, like someone had let a rubber band snap back against her skull. She gasps, as all the air is knocked out of her all of a sudden. She falls down to her knees quite clumsily as pain shoots through every fiber of her body like blood flows through your veins. She groans as the ache begins to dull away from her body. Ally gets back up on her feet, pondering her odd behavior. What had that girl done to her?

She looks up in that same direction. The girl was gone.

Ally frowns, confused.

What the hell just happened?

Ally stumbles a bit when she turns to walk, her balance still a little off from her unsuspected fall, but she manages to make it to the bathroom.

Ally opens up a stall door once inside, only to be met with a teenage couple right in the middle of some special time together.

Not like sex or anything, but a heated make-out session nonetheless and the outline of the guy's hand under the girl's shirt doesn't go unnoticed by Ally either.

She steps back, the door is still hanging open, and fidgets uncomfortably. "Um... awkward."

The couple, a short haired brunette with a nice build and sky blue eyes and a tall girl with lengthy blond hair and pulchritudinous facial features, breaks apart from their saliva swapping to acknowledge the third presence in the room.

"Oh, hey," the girl says cheerily, she looks the least bit embarrassed about being caught being felt up by some guy in a bathroom stall.

The duo untangles themselves from each other and steps outside of the small enclosed toilet area.

"I'm Cassidy," the girl says, she sticks her hand out in front of her with a bright smile playing on her lips.

"I'm Ally," she replies rather stiffly, coughing uncomfortably and awkwardly shaking the leather-clad blond's hand. Literally, the girl was wearing so much leather she was practically wearing a cow itself. She looked like the cover girl for a playboy. The Bad Girl Mechanic who happens to be surprisingly comfortable fixing up a car while wearing a thong.

"This is Elliot," she gestures to the boy next to her in a giggly, carefree tone, but then adds on with a sharp and warning undertone, "my boyfriend."

Elliot offers a small yet genuine smile. He wraps his arm around his girlfriend and brings her into him tightly.

"Well, nice to meet you both. Can I, uh, use the bathroom?" Ally asks.

"Oh, of coarse!" Cassidy giggles, she pushes her boyfriend out of the way and they both slip out of the bathroom.

Again, what the hell had just happened?

Ally peeks her head into the stall, cringing at the thought of what the toilet may have previously been used for.

"On second thought, maybe I'll just pee in a urinal."

…

After three agonizing class periods, lunchtime had finally come around and Ally was more than eager to dig into the leftover lasagna she'd brought for lunch.

Since she still didn't have many friends, she sat down at a table by herself. Really she hadn't interacted with any of the other students. Unless you counted Paranoid Locker Girl and The Bathroom Stall Couple, and she certainly didn't want to eat lunch with any of them. But that was okay. Ally was use to being by herself. She was an only child and growing up her parents had always both been really busy with work. Don't get her wrong, she wasn't bitter about her parents always working, she quite enjoyed her childhood, but Ally always had been some what introverted and was never too keen on making friends. That didn't mean she didn't wish people would be kind enough to come up and talk to her.

Kind of like Austin. Granted, he had kind of been forced into associating with him, but he was usually pretty friendly. And quite the charmer too, but that was off topic. Anyways, Austin and her had only known each other for a couple days, but she seemed pretty comfortable around him. And even though she had learned her way around the school by now, he still insisted on walking her to classes. Then again, he did have all the same classes as her.

Except he hadn't been at school today. Ally found it kind of odd, but didn't give it a whole lot of thought.

She was just happy that it was Friday and her first week at a new school was officially over. She was really looking forward to going home and laying in bed for two days straight.

Ally sat alone at the lunch table, as she planned on doing for the whole lunch period. So she wasn't prepared for the shift on the bench indicting that someone else had sat down on it.

"So, you're the new girl, huh?"

Ally turns her attention and stares up questioningly at whoever was speaking to her. She's met with the face of a dark complected girl with matching dark hair who's looking at her through the lens of some pretty nice looking sunglasses.

"Um, excuse me?" Ally says, wiping her face with a napkin.

"I'm Kira," the girl replies, she's got a dangerous looking smile on her face as she extends her hand out toward Ally.

Ally looks down at it questioningly before shaking it, with extreme caution. She's already had two strange encounters, so excuse her for being weary.

"I'm Ally," she says quietly.

Kira nods. "Yeah, I know who you are." She looks over her shoulder quickly, seeming to get distracted by something. Ally looks in that direction as well, but she doesn't see anything. Soon enough, Kira's head snaps back to look straight ahead.

"I don't know what they've told you about me, but-"

"They?" Ally questions. "No one has said anything about you."

Kira's expression changes. She looks almost upset by this information. Her pink lips turning into a pout. "Oh."

Ally just nods, turning back to her lunch. Maybe if she just ignored the girl, she'd go away.

No such luck. Kira scoots herself closer, a little too close for Ally's liking. "I'm kind of the bad girl at school. I've got a bad rap. Gotten in trouble with authority." She takes her glasses off her face and waves them in front of Ally. "You see these shades?" Kira smirks deviously when Ally says that, yes, she indeed does see the sunglasses right in front of her.

"I stole them," Kira whispers in her ear. She lingers there for a secret before sitting straight up again.

"Wow... That's..." Ally trails off uncertainly. "That's bad-ass."

Kira leans over the table, slipping her sunglasses back on, and her loose fitting tank top gapping very much at the top.

"Kira!" Someone from behind them yells. Both Ally and Kira turn their attention to a tall, slim black guy who's staring down at Kira angrily.

"What the fuck do want, Trent?" She hisses at him.

He looks taken back by her tone of voice, but brushes it off. "We're ready when you are. Meet us at the place." Trent nods his head back, gesturing to whatever "place" he was talking about.

"Not now, Trent. I'm busy, okay?!" She snaps at him. "Besides I think you guys can light up without my supervision by now!"

Trent gestures toward Ally. "Who's your friend."

"This is Ally," she says lazily, clearing becoming bored with conversation with him.

He smiles at her. "Hey, I'm Trent."

"I heard," Ally replies dryly.

"A girl with some attitude," he observes. "I like her, Kira." Kira just gives him a look. "Well, look Ally, a bunch of us are gonna skip fifth period later on. You're welcome to join us?"

Oh, wow, the stoner juveniles were offering for her to join them in ditching classes. She felt so flattered.

Before Ally could decline his offer, she was spoken for.

"Ally and I are gonna stay here for the day," Kira informs him.

'Ally and I? What was this Ally and I?' She thought. 'I'd only just met this girl and she was acting like we'd been best friends forever.'

"But Kir-"

"Just go! Okay Trent!" She gives him a sharp look. "Have fun without us, kay?"

"Okay," he replies quietly before leaving the two girls.

Kira turns back to Ally, this time with a friendly smile on her face instead of her usual untrustworthy smirk. "That's Trent. Don't mind him. He's on so many drugs he hardly had any idea what's going on anyways," she explains and rolls her eyes.

"Good to know..."

"Come on." Kira grabs Ally harshly by the forearm, right under her elbow.

"But I'm not done with my lunch yet!" Ally reasons.

"That's okay," Kira shouts over her shoulder as she drags Ally through the lunchroom. "Lunch is almost over with anyways."

Ally stomach contracts in painful twists at the contact.

…

Ever since lunch, Kira had clung to Ally's side. This girl was harder to get rid of then lice. She was practically dragging Ally around on a dog collar, always pushing and pulling her in various direction.

Ally would have tried to escape several minutes ago had it not been for her sheer amusement. From the way she was talking, Kira sounded like she was under the influence of quite a few drugs herself. Plus, Kira's grip on the girl was pretty strong. She wasn't sure if she could actually escape.

"And this is my locker," the coloured girl says cheerily, as if there's something significantly different about her locker from all the others. She enters in the combination of her lock, opening up the locker and grabbing a pack of cigarettes out of it. She lights one up, right in the middle of the hallway and takes a drag from it. She leans against the locker door. Finally, releasing Ally from her vice like grip.

Kira holds the cigarette out between the two of them, offering it to Ally. The brunette shakes her head, declining the offer and Kira goes back to smoking it herself.

The two of them stand in silence for awhile, but Ally can see Kira glancing at her every now and then out of the corner of her, so she doesn't try any method of escape.

After a few minutes of unpleasant silence, two girls- one a short haired brunette and the other a light brunette with naturally wavy hair- walk up, approaching Kira.

"One second," Kira says to Ally, when she notices the girls.

Both girls stop abruptly in front of Kira, looking intimidated by her. Kira is taller than both of them by a considerable amount and she looks like someone you wouldn't want to mess with.

The brunette nudges her friend in the side, trying to get her to step forward so she doesn't have to. The quirky-looking blond obliges, looking nervous and fidgety. She's stiff with fear, making awkward strides until she's right in front of Kira.

"Did you get the pills?" She whispers frantically and then gasps, almost surprised that those words came out of her own mouth.

Kira throws the cigarette to the ground and steps on it with her foot to put it out. Her eyes glance back up to mousy girl in front. "Nope," she answers simply.

"Why not?" The other girl voices her distress, stepping up right next to her friend.

"Kira, we gave you the money and you said you could get them for us!" The blond whimpers out.

"Trust me, Tilly," Kira places her hands on the girl's shoulder, "you don't need anymore pills. I think you've had enough for now."

Tilly gapes at her. "Then I want my money back," she fumes, hands clenching into fists.

"Oh," Kira winces with fake guilt, "no can do blondie."

"Kira!" The brunette shouts angrily at her.

"Shut up, Brooke!" Kira bites back. "This doesn't concern you!"

"You're cheating us out of our money. So I think this does concerns me."

"I need the money more than you do," is Kira's simple response.

"What does a girl who steals need money for?" Brooke asks defiantly, folding her arms over her chest.

"Zip it, bitch! We both know if I don't supply you with the good birth control then you'll just end up pregnant."

Brooke shuts her mouth after that. She and Tilly share a look, but exchange no words.

Kira smiles satisfactorily. "I've got way too much dirt on the both of you for you two to be defying me." She turns to Brooke. "We wouldn't want your parents to find out that there sweet little saint of a daughter is the biggest slut in school now would we?"

Brooke looks down at her shoes, but doesn't respond furthermore.

"That's what I thought."

"You're such a bitch, Kira," Tilly manages to squeak out.

Kira just shrugs. "I don't know what to tell you girls. In this town you've gotta be smart and learn who to trust and who not to trust."

Ally stands on the sidelines, completely shocked by just went down in front of her. Who would have guessed her new bestie was the school's backstabbing drug dealer. Her stomach turns uncomfortably and Ally quietly winces in pain.

The two girls eventually leave, sad and pill-less and Kira turns back around to Ally- who plays it off like she hadn't been listening- after it's over.

"Sorry about that," she apologizes with a big grin on her face.

Ally shakes her head. "No big deal."

Kira nods. She points her thumb in the direction behind her, gesturing to the retreating figures. "Watch your back with those girls," she warns. "Those bitches are crazy. I mean like mental. The blond one actually had to go to rehab for her mental disorder. She's like the biggest dependent on pills that I know."

Ally just nods along. To her, those two don't seem like the ones she needs to be careful around.

"Come on," Kira grabs her new friend's wrist once again and tugging her along.

Ally groans quietly.

So close.

…

"No one cares," he whispers silently.

He stares up at his reflection in the mirror. The boy staring back at him is one he doesn't even remember. Is he really looking at himself? His dark hair hangs low into his brown eyes that hold so much emotional. So much pain.

"No one cares," he repeats again. It comes out in a raspy voice through his dry lips.

"No one cares!" He shouts. Fresh tears begin to stream down his pale cheeks. The color has long been drained from his sickly looking face.

The boy looks cautiously around his shoulder to make sure no one is in the bathroom with him. The bathroom was empty. Just him.

He grabs his book bag off the counter and locks himself in a bathroom stall. Grabbing a small razor out of his book bag, he stares down at it, emotionless. Tears are spilling down his face. He wipes them away with the back of his hand.

He drags the razor over his thin wrists. They're so small that his veins are literally right there at the surface. He adds pressure to the razor and it breaks through the top layer of skin. He whimpers out in pain, but doesn't stop.

"No one cares."

He makes a clean cut across his wrist. Then another one. Then another one. Each time saying the same three worded phrases over and over again.

"No one cares. No one cares. No one cares."

He rolls up his long sleeve shirt to gain more access to non-cut skin. His ghostly white skin is painted with scarlet red blood. The warm liquid spills onto his jeans. Drips of red liquid spill into pools on the tile floor.

He doesn't stop though. He moves on to his other wrist now.

"No one cares. No one cares. No one cares. No one cares. NO ONE CARES!"

His vision is now hazy from obscene amounts of blood loss. He finally stops, grabbing a towel from his bag and exiting the stall. He walks up to the bathroom sink, turning on the cold water and running the towel under that before dabbing it to his arms. He grabs some wrapping out of his bag as well and wraps his entire arms in them before cleaning up his mess and slipping out of the bathroom.

**A/N**

**Well, that was HEAVY! I apologize if the last scene was a bit too much. I'm not sure about it, but I thought it would be safer to add the disclaimer at the too than to not. By the way, who do you think the boy in that last scene was? Note: he's not a character that had already been introduced. So, don't worry. No, that was not Austin.**

**This chapter didn't really have any Auslly, I'm sorry. It is an Auslly story, but the main plot is way more than that. Just bear with me okay.**

**This chapter was basically introducing the characters that will be important later on in the story. So for those of you who have any sort of knowledge on the Batman world, I hinted at who these people are going to be later on. So any guesses on who everyone is? I mean, obviously Austin is going to be Batman. That one should be easy. Some of them are more obvious than others. A lot of them, if you don't know much about Batman characters, probably won't be very obvious to you. Oh, and there's still one character that I have to introduce. (Because you can't have a story without Dez! *wink, wink*)**

**Woot woot! Two updates in one day! Yay me! Who's excited for Austin and Alias tonight? I am. I'm interested in seeing what happens in the episode.**

**Thanks to rachelita, queenc1, Dont-Stop-Believin, cookiehamster, Scittore Ombra, and the guests who reviewed. You guys rock! Keep it up!**

**Kthanxbai! **

**Morgan :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Vigilante**

Chapter Three

"Austin! Austin!"

Austin groans in response to the incessant pound of knuckles against his front door. If the voice had belonged to anyone other than his childhood best friend, Dez, he wouldn't have bother to get his ass off the couch and answer it.

Austin swings the door open, his best friend's hand stops, mid-knocked and balked up into a fist just inches away from where the door had previously been.

"Dude, what's the problem? I thought you were gonna punch through my door you were knocking on it so hard."

"Where the hell were you today?! You've never missed school before."

Austin can't help but laugh at his friend. Dez is standing there, sweaty and panic-stricken. His eyes are bugging out of his head and he's panting for breath.

"Dez, buddy, calm down. I had a killer headache this morning so my mom told me to stay home," Austin informs him. He moves out of the way so Dez can enter his house.

"Oh," Dez's facial expression changes drastically at this revelation, "well that's kind of a lame reason to stay home."

"It's really not. My brain feels like its going to explode inside my skull. I took so much Advil this morning I thought I was gonna overdose," he replies dryly.

Dez takes a seat on the couch while Austin opts for the chair that sits parallel to the couch.

"Austin, man, you should have been there today. Some really crazy shit went down in class today!" Dez's exclamation is accompanied by animated hand gestures.

"Really Dez? Are you forgetting what school we go to?" Austin asks, bemusedly.

"It was so weird," the redhead leans in closer, resting his hands on his striped-pants-clad knees, "Mr. Mulligan was in the middle of class when he started going off on a huge rant about how bad times were soon to be a upon us."

"What? What do you mean?"

"You know all those rumors, how about this city was once, like, the hubcap of business and like then all that crime started happening and-"

"Dez, you know those stories about The Dark Knight were nothing more than fiction, right?" Austin asks, incredulously. "That's all just folklore. Stories about a vigilant hero who was destined the save the world."

"I know that!" Dez says, "But Mr. Mulligan wouldn't shut up about it. He started going on and on and on about how legend said that "one day the heroes would raise again in the bodies of other, like some sort of reincarnation crap."

"Okay, yeah, that's kind of ridiculous, but I wouldn't call it crazy. It's just Mr. Mulligan off his meds again," Austin supplies.

"No, dude, that's not the weird part. After twenty minutes of this bullshit Caped Crusader nonsense, Brooke just... puked... like, right on the classroom floor."

Austin quirks an eyebrow. "Okay... That's more disgusting that weird really..."

"Because, man, Cassidy threw up at the exact same time. No joke." Dez looks at him, his eyes clouded with confusion. His face contorts into a perplexed expression. "That was even the weirdest part though. When class was almost over with Tilly just... She lost it man..."

"What do you mean?" Austin asks.

"I mean... she just freaked out. She started screaming and.. like... crying hysterically. She kept shouting, "It hurts! It's hurts!" And when Mr. Mulligan tried to calm her down, she slapped him and screamed at him not to touch her." Dez shakes his head, slumping back into the couch. "Then she just ran out of class. We don't know where she went."

Austin shrugs. "That's really not that surprising actually." Austin had been going to school with Tilly since the third grade and even at a young age she was a complete basket-case. She was constantly getting in fight with the other kids. She even snapped at a teacher one time because she told Tilly she was coloring outside the lines. She was always having some sort of breakdown or crisis. That went on consecutively for the next four years.

Then, one day in the seventh grade, Tilly's aunt yanked her by the arm and pulled her out of class. No explanation, no excuses. Just straight up pulled her out of the classroom.

Tilly didn't come back to school the next day. Or the day after that. She didn't show up for the rest of the year.

Everyone eventually forgot about her. They pushed her into the furthest recesses of their minds.

And then the first day of Sophomore year, she suddenly showed up unexpectedly. And acted like everything was perfectly normal. Like nothing had ever happened. Like she hasn't been mysteriously pulled out of class one, never to return, with no reasoning behind it.

"I know," Dez pulls Austin out of his flashback, "but this one was so unexpected. I mean, I've seen her freak out before when the cafeteria runs out of salt, but this was just... random. It's was like a volcano; perfectly fine one time and then erupting the next, spilling hot lava all over the place and destroying civilization."

"I think that's a little over dramatic, dude," Austin says. He props his feet up on the coffee table and grabs the remote, flipping mindlessly through channels.

"Whatever. If you were there today you would have understand what I'm talking about."

Austin just shrugs. The rapid assortment of shapes and colors start to agitate his headache even worse, so he stops channel surfer and lays the remote down on the arm of chair. The TV lands on a local news channel and the sight in front of the two boys is something that both startles and intrigues them.

"The neighbors reported smelling odd odors coming from the house," the reporter informs the audience. Standing behind him, now a blackened, ashy mess, is what once use to be a house and the charred remains of what's left of it. The reporter drones on some more "They found it strange that the owners were hardly ever home. They only showed up once in awhile and never stayed for very long."

"That's because it was just a meth house, dummy!" Dez practically shouts at the television.

Anyone could tell it had just been occupied as a meth lab. If the burned building wasn't enough of a clue to that, Austin knew what house they were talking about and it hadn't looked much better before now. Obviously no one was actually gone live there.

"Although the house and almost everything inside got destroyed from the explosion, police found an arsenal of weapons hidden in a storage cell under the cement floor of the basement."

They proceed to show pictures of guns varying from different types. Austin isn't too savvy in the knowledge of guns, but he can tell just by looking at them, they aren't your average back-in-the-woods hunting guns.

"With this and last week's bank robbery being the only two serious crimes committed inter last two years, we can only assume they're related in some way, but unfortunately, no suspects have been taken in for either crime. Until the time comes that the police have any real evidence, we won't know who's at fault here. Whoever it was, they did a pretty damn good job at covering up their tracks."

As the television continued to displays a montage of the burned building, the plethora of guns, and police officers surveying the scenes, Austin watches with a pained expression. His headache intensifies just from looking at the screen. The veins in his forehead throb overwhelmingly and he grabs his head suddenly, gasping in pain.

It's as if someone was taking a dull knife so the back of his head and continually bludgeoned him with it. The same pain shot down from the top of his head all the way down his spinal cord. He stiffened with fear, unable to move. His fingers are now numb, lifelessly gripping onto his head. His rib cage feels like its been bashed in, like someone kicked him and knocked all the wind out of him. They are unbelievably sore and as he exhales more rapidly, the harder it becomes to replenish oxygen to his lungs.

"Austin!" Dez shoots up from his seat on the couch and kneels down next his best friend. "Austin! Dude! Say something are you okay?!"

Austin tries to speak, but his voice come out choked and strained, and barely above a whisper.

"What?!" Dez grabs the remote and turns off the TV so as to hear his best friend.

It's like a chain reaction. As soon as Dez shuts off the TV, Austin can breathe again. His headache diminishes. His body goes back to normal. He sits upright and looks into the worried eyes of his redheaded best friend.

He lets out a long breath, running his hands through his hair. His eyes are still widen with fear, and his chest rises and falls dramatically with every breath.

"That was scary," he states.

Dez clutches his hand over his heart and breathes a sigh of relief. "Oh my gosh, I thought you were dying. I thought you were gonna die right in front of me and I would have no idea what to do."

Austin chuckles, but only in vain. He's still too shook up to find any humor in the situation. "That was... weird... I don't know what came over me." He looks up at his friend, who is still a little freaked out himself. "Sorry Dez. I didn't mean to scare you like that."

"That's okay," Dez replies. He stands up from his kneeling position and backs away slowly, still keeping a careful eye on his friend. "Just take it easy, man," he advices. "When are your parents getting home?"

"I'm not sure, but probably late like usual." Austin relaxes, lying down on the length of the couch.

"Well, do you want me to stay here with you, just in case or-?"

"No, Dez, I don't need you to babysit me." He rolls his eyes good-naturedly and Dez just laughs.

"Okay, man, take it easy, het some rest, and text me if you need anything."

"Okay," Austin says. His eyes are closed, but he hears the door shut gently, signaling his friend is gone. He's pretty comfortable on the couch, but he decides that maybe he should take another pain pill before going to sleep. Better safe than sorry.

He trudges to the bathroom and grabs the bottle of pills off the counter. He takes one, dry swallowing because he's taken so many in the last week that he's become a professional.

He phone buzzes in the back pocket of his jeans and he fishes it out, half-expecting it to be Dez checking up on him.

But it's not.

_New Text From: Victoria _

_You missed quite the exciting day. Why weren't you at school? Playing hooky, huh?_

He smirks at her contact name before typing out a reply and sending it to her.

_Yep, I ditched to go to the arcade and soda shop. Oh really? Why don't you tell me allll about this "exciting day" that I missed._

He strolls back to the living room and lays down on the couch, but doesn't go to sleep. He decides that maybe the nap can wait until later.

…

"Mama! Abuela!" Trish bursts through the door of her house frantically. Her black curls bouncing about in sporadic motion and her brown eyes clouded with bewilderment. To any on lookers, she'd give the appearance of a mad woman.

"Mama! Abuela!" She shouts once again.

"We're in the kitchen, Patricia, what's with all the yelling?" Her mother stands in the doorway that leads from the living room to the kitchen. Trish quickly pushes past her mother into the kitchen.

"Mija, what's the matter?" Her mother asks worriedly. She runs her fingers through the mess of curly locks in an attempt to soothe her daughter.

Trish looks back and forth, from her mom her grandmother. Both women look back her, waiting for an answer.

"I think something is wrong," she says.

"What do you mean 'wrong'?" Her mom advises her to take a seat at the table. Her mom sits across from her and her grandmother abandons the vegetables she had been chopping in order to join the two of them.

"Lately, I've been feeling... strange..." She speaks uncertainly, this only confuses the two older woman further.

"Strange how?" Her grandmother inquires. "Something about your powers?"

"Kind of..." Trish replies, "but not exactly. You know how you said as a young sorceress I'd be able to sense things more accurately than either one of you?"

The two woman nod. She continues.

"Well, that's why I'm worried that maybe what I've been sensing isn't really anything at all, like maybe it's something small we don't have to worry about, just because I'm so sensitive to those kinds of things." She looks up sheepishly at her family members. "I was hoping maybe you guys were feeling things too, that way is now whether it was something to be concerned about or not."

"Patricia," her grandmother takes the younger girl's hand and speak calmly to her, "a young sorceress must always go with her gut feeling. That's the only way she can learn to trust herself and her powers."

Trish nods slowly.

"What do you think it is, Trish?" He mom prods.

She bites her lip, not wanting to sound foolish or anything. "You know when I was younger and you told me all those stories about the Dark Knight and the legend about this town?"

Her mother and grandmother share a look.

Trish continues on, hesitantly. "Well, remember how you said that, one day, maybe in my lifetime, the legend would try to fulfill itself again, and that the souls of every day average people would be filled with the spirits of these people?" She waits for a response from her elders, but they offer none and she can't tell from their facial features what they're thinking. "You said that if this happened in my day, if be able to tell and that it it really was happening, I'd have to guide these people in the direction they're suppose to go, because they themselves wouldn't know whats happening."

She takes a deep breathe and, with all the confidence she can muster, continues.

"I think that the legend is happening right as we speak. The Dark Knight is rising."

Her grandmother replies. "If this were to be true, which I'm not saying it isn't, the legends of the Caped Crusader are like that of a puzzle, every piece of the puzzle must fit together perfectly before the spirits come back to fulfill their destiny. Are you sure that all the pieces of the puzzle are there?

"Yes Abuela, yes I am," Trish nods. "There's a new girl at our school, Ally Dawson, and I believe she is the last piece of the puzzle."

**A/N**

**DUN DUN DUN!**

**Oh no, whatever could that mean? Lol, I hope I didn't terribly confuse y'all. That wasn't my intention. I'm not sure how clear this story is at the moment, but trust, the father the story goes, the further explaining I will do. You may be sitting there asking yourselves, "what is this legend about the town?" "What do Ally and Austin and Dez and all these people have to do with it?" "Why are these spirits coming back to fulfill there destiny?" Well, don't worry it shall all be explained in later chapters, I just have to figure out a way to do it tastefully.**

**I am so so so sorry guys! I know this chapter isn't the best, but I wanted to quickly update it because its been A WHOLE MONTH since the last update and I'm sorry. I meant to say least have one update last month, but it didn't happen. Last month was CRAZY! It seems every weekend I had something to do and somewhere to go and I didn't have much time to do any writing. School was crazy I had a crap ton of homework and projects and ugh it was just UGH! Then I had to go to the hospital and the doctors, I had to get x-rays done. It was just one big GIANT month of... I don't know... Crazyness? Plus I already updated my other stories I kinda got distracted from this one. Sorry.**

**Anyways guys, I don't mean to be a nagger, but if you read this story please review. It doesn't take very long to do and you don't even have to sign in you can leave an anonymous one. Just say 'I like it' or 'good job' or something encouraging because if not a lot of people review then I get insecure and assume no one likes the story and that makes me sad :( **

**Thanks to all the people that did review. You guys are awesome an I love you! (I love the ones that don't reviews as well, but the ones that do have a special place in my heart.)**

**Okay guys, I have a butt load of laundry to do (yay -_-) so I'm gonna quickly update and then go do that. Have fun! Enjoy your Saturday!**

**Kthanxbaii!**

**Morgan :) **


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